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I have a road bike tire and was going to put it on my mountain bike since I use it to commute to work.

Should I replace the front or back tire? Which will give me the better performance?

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    If you can lock-out the suspension then you'll cease loosing power to bounce. Road bikes have no suspension beyond the rider's legs. Downside of locked out suspension, you're still carrying the suspension parts with you.
    – Criggie ♦
    Jan 3, 2017 at 8:43
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    My speed went up about ~10%, 28 minutes from 31 minutes (put the tire on the front). Keep in mind that's only on two rides of 5.5 miles each way so not a real indication if that was just a fluke or the road tire.
    – Philip Rollins
    Jan 7, 2017 at 15:24

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For efficiency I would put the road tire on the back, as the rear carries more weight. However, front would be best if cornering traction was important.

If the MTB tires have an aggressive MTB tread pattern the mismatch would be best addressed by matching tires and getting another road tire.

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    Agreed - tyres are consumables, and OP can store the MTB tyre for reuse in the future.
    – Criggie ♦
    Jan 3, 2017 at 8:44
  • Thank you, I decided to put it on the front since there are some almost u-turns on the bike path. Probably get another road tire or something like a cruiser tire for a little more traction but not as much as a mountain bike needs. I'll post the differences on here for others to see either tonight or tomorrow night.
    – Philip Rollins
    Jan 3, 2017 at 15:11
  • Just get 2 road bike tires
    – Dan Z
    Jan 4, 2017 at 4:15

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